


Long Way To Go

by DarkJediQueen



Series: Sterek Bingo 2020 [24]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Aged up Stiles, Alive Hale Family, All Human AU, Angst, M/M, One-Shot, Sterek Bingo 2020, reconnection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24351946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: After leaving him at the altar to join the Navy, Stiles never thought that he would see Derek again.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Sterek Bingo 2020 [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1726042
Comments: 32
Kudos: 307





	Long Way To Go

**Author's Note:**

> **Year** : Future  
>  **Spoilers** : Everything  
>  **Notes** : This is a completed One-shot. There will be no more written in the universe.  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly

Stiles looked up from his phone as he heard the conversations around him ticking up. He had his headphones in, but his MP3 player had died, so he kept them in so that no one bothered him. He saw that everyone was looking at a man who was standing in the middle, his arm raised to where he was holding the bar above his head. Stiles figured that he was some hottie or something like, and it was why people were talking. The ladies were probably fanning themselves. There was little else to do on the subway, so people lusted over others. Stiles tried to ignore everyone around him and just head home from work after a long time, but everyone else was pretty much heading into work for the day. Stiles likes his night shifts at work. He was able to do what he needed with little issues from anyone else. Now, if only the subway was the same way.

The man turned, and Stiles saw the Navy SEAL trident tattooed on his arm. He could also see a few scars. Well, if he was a SEAL and did his job right, he would have more than a few scars. The man turned again, and Stiles ducked his head down, and he felt like throwing up. His hands started to shake. He needed to get away. He unplugged the headphones from the dead MP3 player and into his phone as he typed out a text message to Cora.

_Having a panic attack in public, please talk me down._

Stiles read over the message three times to make sure that it made sense and then hit send. He saw her read it and then his phone was ringing.

"Stiles, honey, breathe. What do you see around you?"

"People."

"Are you on your way home from work? Can you just get off at the next stop?"

"Yeah." Stiles looked around through his eyelashes. The man hadn't turned to look at him even though a few people were looking at him now.

"How many people?"

Stiles looked around, and he counted, even the ones all the way at the end of the car he was on.

"Forty-three."

"Good. How many are wearing blue shirts or coats?"

Cora was good at this. She knew to be as specific as possible, or he would count people who had a tiny bit of blue on a logo on a backpack.

"Seven."

"Good, how many of those seven are male?"

"Seven."

"Really? What the hell?"

"Car is stopping. I'm getting off."

"Spencer is on his way to get you in the car, Stiles. Just...wait for him."

"Oh, fuck." Stiles watched as he got off the subway at the same stop. Stiles looked to see that it was his stop as well. He had three blocks. He got himself off so that it didn't go further.

"Stiles, what's wrong?" Cora asked.

"I'm at my stop. It's just three blocks, have Spencer stay there. I don't want-" Stiles cut himself off. He stayed in the flow of people behind, and when he was up to where he could move toward the loft, he stopped as it was the same way that he was going.

"Cora, I'm going to stay on the line, I want you to put me on speaker so I can listen and then use Spencer's phone to call your mother right now."

"Stiles?" Spencer asked when the phone went to speaker.

"Hey, Mom, how are you doing?" Cora asked.

"Cora honey, it's early, what do you want?"

"Just checking in. Been a few weeks, forgot how early it was there."

"He's there, isn't he? Cora just talk to him."

"Oh my God, Mom. You seriously told him where we live?" Cora demanded.

Stiles closed his eyes and moved out of the flow of people. He ducked into the first store that he found and was glad that it was a bookstore. He found a chair and dropped down into it.

"Honey, you and Spencer refused to come home and see him at any point after he left."

"Yeah, after he left Stiles the day before their fucking wedding and ran off and joined the Navy." There was a frustrated sound and then nothing.

"Where are you Stiles?" Spencer asked.

"I'm in the book shop two blocks away. I'm tucked in the back."

"Cora and I are coming to you, and we are going to spend the day out. I know you are tired, but you aren't going to sleep knowing that he's coming here."

"Yeah." Stiles looked around to see that the lady who worked there was looking at him. She held up a cup, and Stiles nodded. "I'm getting coffee. We are stopping somewhere and eating. Don't take Roscoe."

"We won't," Spencer said.

"Do you want us to stay on the line?"

"No. I need to decompress."

"Call if you need it. We will be there as soon as I get dressed. Love you."

"Love you both." Stiles hung up first and plugged his headphones out. He looked around the section that he was in and found that it was the YA section. He walked over to the shelves, looked at a few books that he hadn't read, and saw an entire series that looked good. He grabbed the first book and read it over. Yeah, it sounded good. He would have to get it for his Kindle. He read too much to have as many books in physical form as he read. He walked up to the register, looking outside to make sure that he wasn't there.

"Another gift card?" the lady asked.

"Yeah, and two black coffees, large." Stiles looked at her name tag. Stacy was her name. She didn't often work when he was stopping here on his way home from work. Stiles touched the ring that was on the necklace he wore all of the time.

Stiles was exactly like his father in that they only gave their heart once. Stiles had tried dating over the last decade, and it had never worked. The drinks were made up and handed over in a two cup tray, and his was given to him. Stiles walked back over to his chair and settled in before loading the gift card to his Amazon account and buying the first book in the series. He started to read it on his phone while he waited.

New York City was just about as far away from Beacon Hills as one could get in the continental US, and still, Derek had shown up here. The lines had been drawn in the aftermath of the wedding that wasn't, and while Stiles had tried to get Cora and Spencer to forgive their brother, they never had. Stiles had tried, but unlike the rest of the Hales, he agreed that they got to make their own decisions.

Cora had come out with Stiles to New York City for college, and then Spencer had followed when he graduated high school as well. They talked to their parents, but when Derek was home on leave or down for a weekend when he was stationed at Coronado while not on deployment. The only thing that Stiles ever wanted was to know that he was alive. Talia texted his father to tell him that if there was a word of a SEAL member dying, that made the news. Stiles' father always let him know that Derek was alive.

Stiles hadn't talked to a Hale that wasn't Cora or Spencer since the wedding that wasn't. Well, at least the aftermath of it. Stiles hadn't talked to Derek's parents since he had found out that they had been the ones to take Derek to boot camp and drop him off the day before the wedding, and they hadn't told him.

That morning was still the second-worst in Stiles' memory. Nothing would top the day that his mother died. Stiles remembered sitting in his room at home while he finished drying off after his shower to get ready to get dressed.

Cora had been the one to come in, and Stiles knew that something was wrong just from the look on her face. She handed Stiles a letter that, to this day, Stiles had not actually read. He had Cora read it to him. Derek apologized for not being there and that he couldn't go through with it.

Stiles still wasn't sure what part of it it was that he couldn't go through with. Stiles had been happy with how they were. Derek had been the one to ask Stiles to marry him. Derek had been the one to plan the wedding. Stiles had never asked for more than what Derek was willing to give, and Derek had given him his heart, and that was all that Stiles wanted. He had tried to talk him into something in front of a judge at city hall. Or going to Vegas for a weekend with anyone that mattered.

Derek was a big chicken shit and couldn't even tell Stiles in person that he was leaving. He had already been registered and everything, so he had known for weeks that he was going to boot camp. Stiles would have waited for him to come back or moved up the wedding. He would have done anything to keep Derek, but Derek hadn't done anything to keep him. Yet his heart loved him.

* * *

The fresh air was doing Stiles good. He had been going into work and coming home, and that was it since he had seen Derek on the subway the week before. Today was a day off, and Stiles was enjoying it by spending it all outside. The weather was nice but not overly warm. Stiles didn't look out of place in his hoodie in the park. He had a blanket and was enjoying the afternoon after getting off of work early that morning.

So far Derek had only come by once, at least they thought so with the fact that he left a note with his cell phone number on it taped to the door. Cora had thrown it away and texted her mother to tell Derek to stay the hell away from them. Stiles had left Cora and Spencer to live their own lives, even though they all lived in a top floor loft in an old warehouse. It was more than big enough for the three of them. Stiles wasn't even sure that the Hales that they lived together. Stiles and Cora had found the loft after their freshman year of college. It had been freshly renovated but well within the budget of the two trusts that they gained upon going to college. Stiles' was from the death of his mother and the insurance payout. His father had stuck it all in an account that he had left in the hands of an accountant to earn money in it and promptly forgot about so that he didn't touch it.

Cora's money had been for her college, and she wasn't going to use all of it, so she had gone down half on it. It wasn't a rental, but a straight-out buy, and it had been well in their price range, and they loved it.

Stiles rolled onto his back and brought the Kindle up to block the sun from his face but allow him to still read. He had devoured the three books in the series and moved onto another series that the author had out that was done as well. He found that the writing was good, and while marketed for teenage girls wasn't all that horrible. It was better than some of the books in the adult section that was more sex and lust than anything else.

Hours passed by with Stiles only stopping to eat a snack or drink something. He stayed in the park, enjoying the sun until it started to dip down. He was nearly done with his book and about to turn on the backlighting to see better when the sun dipped down behind a tree and put him in shadow. He looked to the side and saw that not all of him was in shadow. It was like something was close and blocking him. He moved the Kindle out of the way and saw a man standing over him.

"Stiles," Derek said. He looked happy. Happy to see Stiles, but all Stiles saw was the man who left him without an explanation.

Stiles closed his Kindle as quickly as he could and shoved it into his bag. Everything else was already in there as he kept things put up so that he didn't need to clean up a lot of stuff if he had to run to the bathroom. Stiles stood up and pushed his hood over his head before grabbing at the blanket he had spread on the ground. He jerked it out from under Derek's feet, making the man stumble.

"Stiles, please."

"Nope. Nope. Nope." Stiles just ignored him as he started to walk away. His blanket was tucked under his arm on the side. His messenger bag was hanging on. He could get away. It wasn't like Derek was really going to do a damned thing to draw attention to them. They were in a park that was patrolled by cops because it was New York. Stiles just had to scream, and he would be fine.

Stiles was at the edge of the walking track when a hand closed over his shoulder. He spun around, his fist flying, and he felt it connect with Derek's jaw. Derek stumbled back, and Stiles just turned around and kept ongoing. Eyes were on them, so he didn't think that Derek would follow. Stiles had a little bit of a way to go before he got to his Jeep. He knew that he shouldn't have driven. Derek knew Roscoe and probably had seen it and then set out to find him.

Just as Roscoe was coming into sight, Derek was there in front of him. He must have run. His saw was red, and he would probably have a bruise there.

"Stiles, please just hear me out."

"Write me a letter, Derek, and then run away again. That's what you're good at." Stiles crowed when Derek flinched. He kept on walking, brushing by Derek as he passed him. "Other than that, you can eat shit and die for all I care."

It wasn't until Stiles was sitting in Roscoe that he looked at Derek, standing about twenty feet in front of him. Derek was dressed for running, and he looked kind of shocked to see Roscoe. He looked so different, he had facial hair and more than the one tattoo that he had seen the day on the subway. He looked good. Stiles hated that he thought that he looked good. Derek had always been on the more muscled side with playing basketball and working out a lot. Working out was how he dealt with emotions. It looked like that was probably still the case with him.

Derek was watching him, and it killed Stiles. The look on Derek's face was full of pain, and there was one look that Stiles had never been able to say no to, and that was it. Stiles leaned over and opened up the passenger side door. He laughed inside at how quickly Derek took off running toward him. Stiles held out his hand when Derek came around the door to get inside.

"There are three rules to this. Three. You break any of them, and I am ejecting you from this Jeep. Do you understand?"

Derek nodded.

"One, you do not speak until we get somewhere, and we have ordered. I'm hungry for dinner. Two, don't touch anything except the door handle to get out and the seat belt to buckle yourself in. And three, you do not say you are sorry. If that comes out of your mouth at all today, I'm leaving. Do you understand and agree to these terms."

Derek nodded his head, and he looked pleased. Stiles dropped his hand down, and Derek slid into the Jeep. He buckled himself in after shutting the door.

Stiles reached out and slipped his cellphone into the hands-free holder and pressed the button to dial Spencer before he plugged in the cord that made everything go through the sound system in the car.

"Remember the rules," Stiles said as the call connected.

"Hey, you on your way home for dinner?" Spencer asked.

Stiles watched Derek's face as he recognized his brother's voice. There was a flash of pain on his face like he had been gutted.

"Nah, I'm going to park in the garage and then walk down to the Mexican place that I like."

"Ugh, their food sucks, but the alcohol makes up for it."

"You got that right."

"Stiles, you know that we will do anything for you, right?" Spencer sounded so sad.

"I know, Spencer. I know. It'll be fine. This, too, shall pass and all of that other sentimental bullshit." Stiles watched his phone screen light up with his father's image. His dad rarely called him, so Stiles knew he needed to take it. "Hey, Dad's calling. I will see you later."

Stiles pressed the screen to accept his father's call.

"Hey, hey Daddio, what's shaking?" Stiles asked.

"Stiles, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You know that I can tell when you are lying, even over a phone."

"Just an unwanted visitor in New York."

"Ah, so that's where Hale went to. I noticed today that no one had talked about seeing him in town. I got word today that he left the SEALs on a medical discharge. I overheard Talia talking to someone. What's he doing there?"

"I assume that his family told him where Cora and Spencer live and he's trying to reconnect with his siblings. He stopped by last week with his phone number. Cora told him off via Talia. We were able to avoid him because I saw him on the subway, getting off at the same stop I was. He didn't see me."

"Good."

Stiles leaned back in his seat and turned his head to look at Derek. He was clenching his hands tight enough on his thighs that his skin was deathly white.

"I was just calling to check-in. You've not called me all week. Texted yes but haven't called. You usually do that when you are stressed. So I just wanted to make sure."

"Yeah, I'm good, Dad. Heading to dinner. I'll call you tomorrow. I'm off tonight and tomorrow night."

"Good. I'm off all day tomorrow unless hell breaks loose, which with the way things are at the moment with the newest crop of kids, could very well happen."

"Hey, no one can be as bad as he and I were."

"No, but at least you guys contained all of your mischief to only a few places." Stiles heard his father sigh, and then he inhaled and exhaled. "Are you sure your okay?"

"I'm as good as I ever am, Pops." Stiles didn't really want to get into it with Derek beside him. He was sure that Derek wouldn't keep his mouth shut then.

"Okay, then. Just text me when you get home."

"I will. Bye, love you!" Stiles reached up and waited for his father to say his goodbyes before he pressed the end call button on the screen.

Derek opened his mouth but shut it quickly. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't not answer. We can get going. I'll drop you off at the restaurant, and you can get us a table. I want a peach margarita, sugar on the rim, and water. I promise you, Derek. I'll be there. I won't leave you waiting for me."

It wasn't until Stiles was pulling into traffic that he realized how his words would sound. He just wanted a few minutes to get himself settled down. The walk would give him that. Derek did nothing, hell he barely moved as Stiles drove back to the loft's garage. It was just the bottom floor of the old warehouse. There were storage units on one side, each loft had one and then on the other side was parking, four spots per unit since there was so much space. Spencer and Cora had their bicycles in a spot each, and then there was Stiles's Jeep. The Jeep was used by all of them pretty equally. It wasn't hard to use the subway or a bus to get pretty much everywhere. Spencer and Cora's bikes were used to get them to and from work since they were close enough to not want to deal with that kind of shit.

"Five minutes," Stiles said when he stopped in the alley beside the restaurant.

Derek slipped out and didn't even look back. Stiles got himself under control before heading down the alley that came out in the lot around their building. Stiles parked in his spot and got out. He looked outside before walking out and pressing the button to shut the door.

Stiles stopped at the door to the restaurant and took a deep breath. He opened the door and slipped in. The hostess, Maria, was standing at her spot.

"I stuck him your normal table, Stiles. He hot." Maria waggled her eyebrows at him, and Stiles smiled and nodded. He knew that Derek was hot. He'd know that since Derek had started to fill out in high school. He was reminded of it every single time that someone had come up to him and told him that he didn't deserve the captain of the basketball team. He had heard it all so many times, but he hadn't believed it. Not until Derek had left him.

Stiles wasn't shocked when he walked toward the table and saw that Derek had his back to the wall, a good spot to look out at everyone around him but also have no one to his back. The medical discharge could be a lot of things. He was in running gear, so it wasn't his legs. His arms looked fine. He could see a few spots that were healing up just fine. Stiles wasn't sure though if he had something going on in the chest area. He could very well. Or it could be mental.

"As long as we don't talk about anything with our past, you can speak."

"Thank you. I ordered you your drinks and got some queso for the table and the spicy salsa. The guy who took the order seemed to know you. After the hostess, I asked him what kind you got, saying you like the spicy and your siblings like the mild."

"Thank you. We eat here a good bit. The food is great, by the way. Spencer was just being an asshole. The food, though, does pale in comparison to the alcohol. Did you leave a car at the park?"

"No. I took the subway. I'm going to Columbia and finishing the degree I started."

Stiles nodded his head. At least Derek wasn't here just for talking to them. Stiles knew that Derek had finished out a year at Berkeley before joining the Navy. Stiles had only been a grade behind him. He was glad that Derek wasn't letting his education go to waste.

"Still for business technology?" Stiles asked.

"Yes."

Stiles nodded. His degree was in cyber security, and that's what he ran for the company that he worked for. He worked on backdoor things that were better tested and ran while the load on the servers was low. Hence why he worked nights. It worked good for him, and it was nice to have some time at the apartment alone. Other than emergencies, he didn't work weekends. Friday night to Saturday morning, yes, but not Saturday or Sunday night.

"Did you..." Derek shook his head.

"I went for cyber security like I was planning on, yes. I have no clue what your parents know about what I do. Cora and Spencer were both very pushy when it came to never tell them anything. I know my dad doesn't talk to them all that much unless he has to. You have to know that I never wanted that. He's his own man, and he did as he wanted."

"Mom and Dad explained everything that came after. Laura sugar-coated things a lot, but my first time home after I passed BUD/s was an eyeopener. That and Spencer not coming home at all."

"I didn't know that."

"Yeah, he stayed with your father, I guess. Two weeks and he never came home. Mom called the Sheriff, and he said that he had him."

"Oh, that two weeks. Spencer never said that you were home, at least not to me. He must have told Dad. I knew he was there because every night when I called home to talk to Dad, he was there. I asked why and Spencer said that he missed me and was sleeping in my room."

"What does he do?"

"I don't feel comfortable talking about that." Stiles didn't want to tell him anything that no one else had told him.

"He loved books when he was younger. He was going to be in that world. He doesn't tell Mom anything."

"I don't push myself into their lives like that. They make their own choices. I can't know what they are feeling, and I refuse to put myself into the role of someone who tells them what they should do."

"I'm glad that they have someone like you." Derek reached out his hand to lay it over where Stiles had his on the table, but Stiles jerked his hands back. "I'm glad that you took them in."

"Cora and I ended up here together, and Spencer tagged along when it was time. We bought the loft we are in with my money from Mom's insurance and Cora's trust. When Spencer came here, he used what money was left from his trust after paying for school to buy new furniture and kitchen appliances. New washer and dryer. He wanted to put in something, and Cora and I had bought things little by little when we scraped up enough money with the jobs that we had. We worked at this nice coffee shop. They never had us working together, and if one of us couldn't make it, the other worked the shift instead. It paid for food and other fun things that we didn't want to push into our trusts for."

"I know you probably don't want to hear this, but I am proud of you. I'm proud that my leaving didn't break you."

Stiles leaned back as the waiter came up with his drinks as well as Derek's and the cheese, salsa, and chips. Stiles picked up his margarita and took a sip of it.

"Good?" Ramon asked.

"As always. You know my order."

"Sure thing." Ramon turned to look at Derek and waited.

"Um, whatever Stiles is having," Derek said.

"Sure thing. Pineapple or no?"

"Yeah." Derek looked at Stiles with a smile on his face.

Stiles ducked his head and smiled. Derek knew precisely what Stiles had ordered just from that. He was content in a way that he had been in a long time just from Derek being across from him.

"I don't hate you," Stiles said. He said that he and Derek could talk about this when food had been ordered.

"You should."

"There is a thin line between love and hate, and I just never tipped over it. I'm hurt, even to this day. I'm angry some days and sad others. I want to understand, and your letter gave me nothing. If you didn't want to marry me, Derek, why did you ask me to marry you?"

"It's a lot more complicated than that, and I have to say that I didn't want to not marry about. I just..." Derek looked away from Stiles. He picked up his roll of silverware and began to unwrap it. He ripped the napkin in half and laid the utensils on it, and then started to play with the other half. It would end up in tiny shreds by the time that he was done. Those would make their way to the chip basket by the time that they were done eating chips.

Stiles reached over and grabbed a chip and dunked it into the cheese before pulling it up to eat it. He broke half off in his mouth and was about to dip it into the salsa when he stopped and looked at Derek. "Okay, to double?"

"Yeah. I don't care." Derek grabbed a chip and did exactly as Stiles had done. "Why did Ramon think that Cora and Spencer are your siblings?"

"It's how they introduce themselves. No one really asks, so I assume that they think that either they are adopted, or I am. You know the whole you can't get pregnant until you've adopted a kid already thing and bam pregnant. I just didn't see fit to correct Spencer the first time that he did it. I think it's his way of claiming me."

"I never wanted you to be apart from my family. I thought that you would stay close to them. I hoped that by me leaving things would be good between you. You loved my family."

"Yeah, I did. I lost all respect for your parents when they didn't stop the wedding day from happening. That's when I was told by the way. I was given your letter by Cora after your parents had told them that you had left. They had gone with you, Cora told me that. They knew that you were leaving. They wanted you to have a clean getaway, which I can understand, but they waited until I was getting ready to head to the hall. When everything had been set up, and the guests were already on their way. My father waited until everyone was there to explain that the wedding had been called off, but the food was there, and they could eat before heading home. I stayed at home, and no one but Cora and Spencer was there. It was just better that way. I didn't want to be the subject of so many sorries. Or questions why when I didn't even know why. I think that's the worst part of all of this, I didn't know why. You ran away, and you left me a letter that just said you needed to do what you were doing. I mean, I get it. We talked about you joining the Navy several times. I always told you to go for it. That you could go to college when you got back after doing a tour or two. That I would be there. I don't know why you had to go right then. When we could have gotten married before you left."

"I'm not gonna say that I was scared, that wasn't the whole reason a part of it but not the whole thing. I didn't realize until I was sitting in a hovel of a home six months ago why I had left. Over a decade and I was only finally getting to what had made me leave."

Stiles looked to see Ramon headed their way with a large platter of food. He set it down, the smell of the sizzling meat, vegetables, and pineapple filled Stiles' nose. It helped him settle down a little. It was crazy how much just a plate of food made him feel like that. The plates with the tortillas came out next and then the plates of the condiments. Stiles' had no sour cream and extra guacamole and a pile of cheese in the corner that didn't usually come with it. Derek's had the sour cream but the cheese as well. Stiles hadn't even thought about that. Derek did like the cheese, so that part was easy. He smiled at Ramon, and the man left them alone.

The making up of the first fajita was what took over their conversation. Stiles felt a hell of a lot better with getting it all out. His father had been in the military before he had married his mother. He had been at college when he met her after his tour. Stiles was proud of his father for doing. Stiles wouldn't be approved with his ADHD and how severe it was. He didn't think that he would be able to be two years off of it before he hit the age where he couldn't join up. He understood. If he was off meds and still like he was, he wouldn't be trustworthy enough to send out into the field where they could go days without access to pills, especially if they were captured. It wasn't worth the risk to the rest of the team.

"There is also the fact that Laura hates my guts," Stiles said.

Derek coughed, nearly inhaling his bite of food in his mouth. He looked at Stiles with shock all over his face.

"What do you mean?"

"Derek, I knew that she hated me from the first day that you brought me home as your boyfriend instead of your friend. She was never overly fond of me as your friend. She didn't like that I was loud, on medication, or had an oral fixation."

Derek looked a little ashamed at that.

"Dude, it's nothing on you, and I never held it against you. I know my faults. I know that people think about me, but you never let anyone's opinion of me color what you thought of me. You haven't since you protected me that first time I had a panic attack on my first day at school following my Mom's death. You kicked that idiot's face in and only cared about making sure that I could breathe. You were my hero from that moment on, so why the fuck would I give a fuck about you joining the Navy to be someone else's hero as well?"

"I-" Derek swallowed before grabbing his drink. Stiles knew that it wasn't just a simple drink. He could smell the tang of whiskey in it from here. He had a glass of water as well, so Stiles wasn't worried about Derek getting drunk. Stiles was more worried about other things. Derek had learned the art of not saying a whole like while speaking a lot of words from Stiles. "There is a lot to unpack there."

"I have all night, literally. I slept this morning like I normally do, so I'm good for quite a few hours here." Stiles felt his phone vibrate, and he looked down to see that Spencer had texted him. He picked it up and saw that Spencer had sent an image and then the words, "What the fuck???!!!" Stiles opened it up, and he saw that it was an image of him and Derek here. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He waved down Ramon. "Hey, two more? Mu siblings usual's please."

"Sure thing, Stiles." Ramon was smiling.

"They are coming here?"

"I think that Maria texted them about me being on a date. I just got a text of a picture of us from the area around the hostess stand with Spencer demanding to know what the fuck is going on. So yeah, if they don't join us, I will be shocked."

"Why would you being on a date be something worth noting like that?" Derek asked.

"I date for a year after I was done with college. I focused on my studies at college, and that was it."

"A year, did you find someone?"

"Why would it matter if I did?" Stiles countered.

Derek held up his hands in the supplication and frowned.

"I tried dating for a year, and I just couldn't get into it. That's all you need to know at this moment. Now explain to me why you ran away from me."

Ramon paused at the side of the table and looked between them as he set down drinks for Cora and Spencer. Ramon looked worried.

"It's fine, we are fine. We are not going to get into a fight, I promise."

Ramon nodded his head, but instead of going into the back, he went right to Maria.

"And yup, he's telling Maria. Invasion of the Hales in under five minutes, I would say. Though I guess, that's not a bad thing, really."

"I would like to see them, but I am not sure that this is a conversation that I want to have in front of them."

"I don't keep anything from them. So they will find out. They were just as hurt and confused as I was, Derek. I think that they call me their brother because they wanted it so much. Their two favorite people in the world being happy and married like that was the only thing that I think they wanted in the world."

"Three months before the wedding, pretty much as soon as we had set a date and worked on getting things ready while you finished high school, Laura started in on me. She wanted to know why I was pandering to you on this. Little things here and there that built up until I was fucking scared of getting married. You and I had talked about me joining the Navy, so I did that. I went to the recruitment office, and I signed up. I got my orders that day you were out with Cora and doing the final fitting on her dress for the wedding. It was the day before the wedding. I sat there, and I thought about it all. You were so brilliant, so smart. I was going to hold you back. I had this little devil on my shoulder, telling me everything that I feared about us. How we were too young and too untempered to be able to make it last. That getting married too young was going to break us apart. That if I told you what I wanted, you were going to leave me."

"And that devil sounded exactly like Laura, didn't it?" Stiles asked. He had wondered about it over the years but the screaming match that he had got into with her the one weekend he had gone home during college, and she was there hadn't given him any answers. He had been left with nothing except the knowledge that Laura was fucking happy that Derek hadn't married him. She had told everyone in listening range that she was happy that Derek hadn't weighed himself down with someone as shitty as him who was going to coast on his coattails through life and amount to nothing but a bum who allowed his spouse to pay for everything.

Stiles had never planned on doing that, and even now, he had more money than he knew what to do with. He had paid off the home loan of his father's after he had earned his signing bonus with the company after coming into it with a whole operating system that would save them a hell of a lot of money in royalties for a flat rate and Stiles basically selling his soul to them for life on it. Even if he left, he would be contracted to maintain it or at least train someone else to maintain it, but Stiles was okay with that. The system had been what had got him his doctorate in cyber security. He was okay with it, giving him a hell of a lot of money that he could do something with.

Laura had never seen him anything other than a gold digger, and he had been mostly sure that she was the reason that Derek had left him. He was okay with that, though. He had shown the world that he could stand on his own two feet without Derek, and all it had done was to make Laura hate him more. Stiles' father had spent a lot of his time telling the whole damned town everything that Stiles had been able to buy or pay off while never telling them about what he did for a living. Stiles' father had told them that he had never been prouder of Stiles than when he had earned the money to pay off the house. That Stiles had shown his father his love and how much he was grateful that his father had pushed him to do as well as he did in school by making sure that he was taken care of. It had been fucking awesome to see the sour look on Laura's face in the image that Stiles had been sent by Deputy Parrish.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you come to me with any of this? Derek, you were the one that asked me to marry you. You were the one that did all of that. I was content like we were. Planning on getting a place after we spent a year in the dorms to say that we had done it. You did all of it, and then you fucking ran away from me."

"I am ashamed of what I did. I just...she didn't stop. She never stopped, and she kept on repeating the same things over until I believed them. I forgot that she hated you and never thought you were good enough. She knew my weak points, and she went after them. I was held hostage for a month, tortured, and still, I never broke, at least not on what they wanted. I sat in that fucking cell as they tried to break me with the same techniques that we were taught in SERE training. It was when it was dark, though, and there was no sounds that you came to me. That you begged me to come back to you. That you wanted to know what you are asking me now. I was lost, Stiles. Lost and alone, and I realized that I left the greatest thing in my life behind because I let someone get into my head. Every single moment of that went through my head. Those months right up until I left without giving you anything but a letter. I had made myself think that you didn't deserve me because of her, but I didn't deserve you."

Stiles looked over Derek's shoulder when he noticed that someone came from the kitchen that hadn't moved in a while. He saw that it was Cora and Spencer. They looked pissed, but Stiles just glared at them, and the anger fell off of their faces. They were too much in public to let them go after Derek.

"You'll need to stand up to allow whoever wants to sit beside you sit." Stiles watched Derek's face go through a few emotions before he looked to the side. He saw Cora and Spencer, and his body went tense.

"You grew up," Derek said as he stood up.

"That's what happens in a decade," Spencer said. He looked at Stiles, who nodded his head before he rushed over to hug Derek.

They were nowhere near anything, even approaching friends again, but Derek didn't need to be cut off from his family. Not after being held captive for a month and tortured. Cora was going to be the harder one to win over. Stiles knew that Derek could do it, though. This was just the first step.

* * *

Stiles heard the laughter in the loft, and he flinched as he knew that he was going to get it. It wasn't his fault in this case. He was actually home later than usual but not as late if one of the security team hadn't driven him. He had the next week off, paid without touching his vacation since he had been attacked on company property when someone who had been fired because of something that Stiles had found hadn't been escorted off like they should have been. He had been to the ER already, and it was why he was late. He had been escorted by security and then driven home. He looked like he had been beaten to hell. He had been able to subdue the attacker, but not before the guy had blitzed him.

Derek was in there, his laugh felt good to Stiles' ears. It had been nearly a year since Derek had come to New York for school and had come back into Stiles' life. This Derek was different than the boy he had been in love with and was set to marry. He was hard in places that he hadn't been before but still the same loving man inside. Stiles loved him still, and it was an ache that he couldn't get rid of.

Stiles was sore and needed to go inside, but he was worried about how Derek was going to react. Derek didn't talk about his time in the SEALs other than stupid things that his team had done. The one night he had fallen asleep on the couch, and they had left him, Derek had woke up screaming. Stiles ended up staying up with him the rest of the night in the living room as it had been a weekend, and he had been off. He had just been in his room playing a video game with his headphones on.

Taking a deep breath, Stiles opened the door to the loft. He zeroed in on where he could see Spencer's head over the couch and then found Derek. Derek was looking at him with shock in his eyes. Stiles' arm was in a sling, and his face was bruising already. He had a bruised stomach from the few kicks that had been gotten in after the punch to the face, and his arm had been broken. Stiles had got up, though, after catching the man's foot with his one good arm and tipping him backward. Security had arrived just a moment later while the guy was dazed from his head hitting the wall when Stiles had driven him back into it. It had all been caught on camera, so he didn't fear getting taken to court.

Derek vaulted over the couch but didn't rush at him. He walked slowly toward him like he was afraid of scaring Stiles. Stiles shut the door behind him as Cora and Spencer came around the couch like normal people.

"Stiles?" Derek asked as he looked like he was going to reach out and touch. He hesitated, so Stiles pushed his cheek into his hand.

"I'm fine. The guy who did this is in police custody. As you can see, I have been to the hospital, and I do have a mild concussion, but they aren't worried about me falling asleep. I have my scripts already dropped at the pharmacy, and Cora can pick them up in an hour. Security drove me to the hospital and then here. It was a fired coworker who did this after I caught him doing illegal things on work computers. I have the next week off so that I can recover. I've already given my statement to the cops, and they really don't think he will be able to afford bail given what he's being charged with. The company had already given over the evidence to the DA, and NYPD and cops were looking for him, but he slipped back into the building."

"What do you need right now?" Derek asked.

"Sleep, but I don't know if it's going to come to me or not. Food because I will need to have something on my stomach when I take my painkillers. I opted not to take a dose at the hospital. I didn't want it clouding me up at all with the trip home. I'm sore, and I just want to relax."

"Okay," Derek said. He looked at Spencer. "Spencer can work on the food of some kind. Just tell him what you want. Cora can go shopping if you tell her what you want, and I'll take care of helping you. Unless you want to change around the jobs."

"No. No. That's good. I need another gift card for my Kindle. I'm almost out of books on it. And hot chocolate with my script wouldn't upset me. Spencer knows what I like for breakfast from the diner place. Get me like two extra orders of dry toast so that I can eat that with the pills when Cora gets back. I'll text you anything else I want from the pharmacy. We are going to need more cling wrap for my arm when I get it in a cast. Right now, I have a brace on it until I can get it in a cast. They said as long as I don't wash myself I can take it off to help keep it clean and ice it."

"Yeah, we can do that." Cora stepped up and kissed Stiles on the forehead before she walked over to grab her light jacket since it was raining outside. Spencer rushed to the bedroom and came back with a pile of clothes. It was Stiles' sleep clothes.

"I could have gone and got them on my own."

"Nah, you need to get settled on the couch as quickly as you can. You look like that time you fell asleep standing up while eating breakfast after work."

Derek slipped up to Stiles' side and helped guide him to the couch. His legs were fine, but sitting down was going to suck wit his stomach.

"How are your organs?"

"No sign of damage, and my boss made sure that they did every test that would cover any damage I could have had done to me. I'm good. I promise. I have the discharge paperwork, I'm sure you want to read over it. I need to call Dad. I swear he has spies that are not Cora and Spencer in this town."

Derek laughed and pressed a kiss to Stiles' forehead before he helped him sit down. Stiles moved to where he was lying back with his head on the armrest. Sitting normally was not something that he could do. He heard Derek puttering around in the kitchen as Stiles grabbed his phone from his work bag. He had tossed everything in there. He dialed his father and laid his phone on his chest with the area for taking in words turned toward his chest. He waited for the ringing to stop. He knew his dad was at work given his schedule but getting off soon.

"Stiles, what do you need?"

"I was just calling to say that I am fine, but I was attacked at work. The guy who did it is in police custody, and I've been to and released from the hospital. Broken arm, sore torso, minor concussion. Cora is going to get my scripts, Spencer is getting me food, and Derek is making sure I don't do something stupid."

"I want to talk to him."

"Sure." Stiles looked to see Derek coming back with two bottles of water and what looked like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Stiles held out his hand for it. It was just one slice folded over like a pocketbook, but it would at least help him while he waited for Spencer to get back with breakfast.

"Hale," Noah said.

"Yes, Sheriff."

"I want you to read over his papers and tell me that he's not downplaying."

"Well, he's probably a little more beat up than he's saying, but he was moving pretty well." Derek leaned over and dug around in Stiles' bag for the papers and came out with them. He looked them over, his eyes glancing over each page. "Yeah, he's not downplaying anything. Organ function tests came back just fine, and the concussion is very, very mild. I think it's better than the one he got that one time watching me play basketball."

Stiles flipped off Derek. Derek just smiled at him before he lifted up Stiles' legs and slid under them to settle with them over his lap. His hand settled on Stiles' stomach, and he started to rub a little, over the shirt.

"Good. I still don't like you, and I don't like that he's become friends with you, but I know you care for him, and I know you'll make sure that he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Yes, Sir. I'm not back at school yet, so while Cora and Spencer are at work, I can stay and help him. I see his appointment time to get the cast put on, and I can take him to it."

"I want daily updates. From one of your three."

"Hey!" Stiles yelled, and he tried to grab the phone, but Derek grabbed it first.

"Stiles, you would make sure that I didn't worry more than tell me the truth."

Stiles crossed his good arm over his chest and stuck his tongue out at the phone. Derek just laughed and settled the phone on Stiles' legs on top of the paper.

"I'll call you later today after he's gotten some sleep and wakes up. He does have the week off, I see the note here in the paperwork that his return to work date is the following Monday. I promise I'll take care of him, Sir."

"I'll hold you to that. I'll make a trip just to take care of things if you fail."

"I won't." Derek sounded a little broken at that.

"I'm going to let you go so you can force food into him and make him sleep. I'm going to be asleep for about seven hours after I get home, my work schedule is on his Google calendar on his phone, set to his time so don't worry about waking me up after seven hours after the end of my shift."

"You got it, Sir."

"Drop the Sir, Derek."

"Yes, Noah," Derek said. He hesitated over the phone while Stiles said his goodbyes to his father. The phone was settled on the coffee table, and Stiles started to eat the sandwich now that he didn't have to worry about his father saying something, and he was not able to defend himself.

"I hate you," Stiles said as he shoved the last bite of the sandwich into his mouth.

"I love you."

Stiles nearly choked on the sandwich. Derek lunged and grabbed a water. He uncapped it and handed it over. Stiles took a drink to clear the food from his mouth and throat. He glared at Derek.

"Laura hasn't spoken to me in three months, not since everyone came out here, and we had that family reunion of sorts. She is pissed that I even talk to you. You are the head of cyber security for a large company, you got that through hard work and dedication. You make more money than she does, and you still live with two other people. I think she's afraid to admit that she was wrong about you."

"I still hate you," Stiles said. He knew that Derek knew that he meant.

"I've loved you since you came running at me while naked when I threw the book at you to make you drop your towel."

"Dude, I was fourteen at the time!" Stiles said.

"I know, and I've loved you since then. I told myself that I was better off without you. I told myself that I didn't deserve you after what I did. I know you might not ever trust me again, but I can't live my life like this anymore. I can't keep on going like we are without you knowing. I know that we've talked everything else to death. Cora made us all go to family therapy, which I gotta tell you made the doctor make some interesting faces."

"I know. I think at some point we nearly broke her when we were all fighting. I doubt she's seen anyone fight as civilized as we do."

"I don't think she's ever seen a SEAL called a pretty, pretty princess either. I think we might have sent her into therapy." Derek scooted closer, bending around Stiles to where they were kind of face to face. He reached out and cupped the side of Stiles' face. "I'd do anything for you, Stiles. If you want to stay friends, I will do that. If you want to try and even then feel like we are better friends. I would do that. I want you happy, even if that means I'm not in your life."

"At least you chose the right time to do this. Meaning not when I am drugged up. We've done okay as friends the last year, I think. I don't know that I would ever trust you to show up for a wedding again like that, but I missed you." Stiles reached into his shirt and pulled the chain over his head, the front popping out last to show the ring that Derek had given him on it. It had been a rather plain engagement band with no frills, but Stiles loved it.

"How long have you been wearing that?"

"Two months after you never showed up for the wedding, before that, it was on my finger. I've not gone a day without wearing it. Some people call me stupid, but Dad never has. He loves Mom still and wouldn't ever replace her. People that think that because someone isn't dead, that means they can be replaced easily. That's just not the way that things are with us. Dad said once that Stilinski men were made to love once, and that was it. I didn't believe him until every single person that I met was compared to you. I knew then that I was as happy as I was going to be able to get, so I worked on making myself happier while alone. Cora and Spencer helped."

"I've seen Spencer in his date clothes. He's spent too much time living with you."

"There is nothing wrong with flannel, especially here in New York. It's too cold in winter."

"Well, if things go well this winter, you'll have me to warm you up." Derek moved again, closer and Stiles pushed up to where he could press a chaste kiss to his lips. Derek pressed him gently back down onto the couch, not hurting him despite being in pain. Derek licked at his lips, and Stiles couldn't help but open up his lips to him. It had been so long since he had tasted Derek.

"We are taking Stiles' last name if you guys break up again," Cora said.

Derek sat up, and Stiles could see Cora and Spencer there at the end of the couch behind Derek.

"Got you food," Spencer said as he held up the food. Cora had a baggie from the pharmacy, and Stiles held out his hand for that. His chest was aching from the bruises, and his arm was fucking killing him. Derek pressed him down again, missing every single bruise. Stiles had to wonder how he did that. He figured there might be something in the paperwork. He had been photographed, and every single mark on him marked down.

Stiles inhaled all of the food after taking the pills, and he enjoyed the dry toast as Spencer and Cora fought over what to watch. He had gotten not only a hot chocolate but a milkshake as well. The hot chocolate was long gone, but Stiles kept the milkshake close. He was on his side now on the couch, and his bad arm was up on his hip. Derek had placed a pillow there and settled in behind Stiles with his head in his lap. Derek's fingers hadn't stopped playing with Stiles' hair. Cora and Spencer looked content.

There was still a long way to go, but things were looking up, Stiles thought as he started to slip into sleep with his medication dulling the pain in his body.

# The End

**Author's Note:**

> I write fanfiction for fun. It's a hobby and a stress relief. I refuse to stress over my writing. What you see is what you get. Errors, plot holes, and all. Thank you for reading my story!
> 
> I can be found on MeWe [here](https://mewe.com/i/beccaqueen1), join me there and we can discuss my fics and whatnot.


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